Welcome to our anxiety management groups
If social anxiety is disrupting your daily life, it’s important you receive both information about the phenomenon and support to help you face anxiety-inducing situations and reduce avoidance behaviour. To this end, the FSHS organises Anxiety Management Groups for those with any kind of social anxiety all over the country, both at our service units and remotely online.
- What happens in an Anxiety Management Group
- How Anxiety Management Groups work in practice
- What is social anxiety?
- Anxiety Management Groups with start dates in autumn term 2025
What happens in an Anxiety Management Group
In your Anxiety Management Group, you’ll practise various social situations in a safe environment following introductions to the subject and through group discussions, group exercises and homework. You’ll learn to better understand your social anxiety and how you react to situations that have the potential to make you nervous. You’ll also be able to share your thoughts with others facing the same challenges. In your Anxiety Management Group, you’ll not only learn new ways to alleviate your symptoms, but also new ways of looking at social anxiety, with the goal of accepting it as part of life. In addition to social anxiety in general, the group can help you with problematic presentation anxiety.
Video introduction to Anxiety Management Groups
In this video, psychologist Roosa Karttunen explains how our Anxiety Management Groups work.
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Participant feedback about Anxiety Management Groups
Students who participated in one of our Anxiety Management Groups said that they especially liked the following:
- The group leaders help maintain an accepting atmosphere in the meetings, which makes it easier to share your experiences.
- You do a lot of exercises in the Anxiety Management Group, both alone and together with the group. Some of the exercises may feel difficult at first, but they’re designed to also be useful outside the group meetings, in your daily life.
- In addition to exercises, you’re provided with theoretical knowledge about social anxiety as a phenomenon. Having a better understanding of social anxiety may help you to better control your reactions.
How Anxiety Management Groups work in practice
- Each group will be composed of 7 to 10 higher education students who feel that social anxiety is interfering with their studies, work or other social situations.
- The group can meet in person or remotely.
- For detailed instructions on how to enrol, see Anxiety Management Groups with start dates in autumn term 2025.
- There will be 8 meetings, usually held once a week. Check with your group leader for your group’s exact meeting times. Also note that some groups with start dates toward the end of the autumn term may continue into the spring term.
- If you’re going to miss a meeting, please let your group leader know well in advance.
- The group leaders will briefly interview each participant before the first meeting.
- We recommend that you notify us of your interest in joining a group at least 2 weeks before the group’s first meeting. If you contact us later than this, we can’t guarantee that the group leader will have time to contact you before the first meeting.
What is social anxiety?
Social anxiety means feeling anxious or scared when you’re the focus of other people’s attention. This can happen in various situations such as when participating in a group, giving a presentation or eating together with others. Survey results show that more than a third of higher education students, irrespective of age or gender, experience social anxiety (The Finnish Student Health and Wellbeing Survey [KOTT], 2024).
Anxiety Management Groups with start dates in autumn term 2025
There are currently no English-language Anxiety Management Groups scheduled. Future group information will be updated here.